to this animal. I know him;"
said the duchess dolefully.

"There was a steinbock with a beard;
Of no gun was he afeard
Piff-paff left of him: piff-paff right of him
Piff-paff everywhere, where you get a sight of him."

The steinbock led through the whole course of a mountaineer's emotions
and experiences, with piff-paff continually left of him and right of him
and nothing hitting him. The mountaineer is perplexed; an able man, a
dead shot, who must undo the puzzle or lose faith in his skill, is a
tremendous pursuer, and the mountaineer follows the steinbock ever. A
'sennderin' at a 'sennhutchen' tells him that she admitted the steinbock
last night, and her curled hair frizzled under the steinbock's eyes. The
case is only too clear: my goodness! the steinbock is the-- "Der Teu .
. . !" said Andreas, with a comic stop of horror, the rhyme falling
cleverly to "ai." Henceforth the mountaineer becomes transformed into a
champion of humanity, hunting the wicked bearded steinbock in all
corners; especially through the cabinet of those dark men who decree the
taxes detested in Tyrol.

The song had as yet but fairly commenced, when a break in the 'piff-paff'
chorus warned Andreas that he was losing influence, women and men were
handing on a paper and bending their heads over it; their responses
hushed altogether, or were ludicrously inefficient.

"I really believe the poor brute has come to a Christian finish--this
Ahasuerus of steinbocks!" said the duchess.

The transition to silence was so extraordinary and abrupt, that she
called to her chasseur to know the meaning of it. Feckelwitz fetched the
paper and handed it up. It exhibited a cross done in blood under the word
'Meran,' and bearing that day's date. One glance at it told Laura what it
meant. The bride in the court below was shedding tears: the bridegroom
was lighting his pipe and consoling her; women were chattering, men
shrugging. Some said they had seen an old grey-haired hag (hexe) stand at
the gates and fling down a piece of paper. A little boy whose imagination
was alive with the tale of the steinbock, declared that her face was
awful, and that she had only the, use of one foot. A man patted him on
the shoulder, and gave him a gulp of wine, saying with his shrewdest air:
"One may laugh at the devil once too often, though!" and that sentiment
was echoed; the women suggested in addition the possibility of the bride
Lisa having som